2000 Technion Students on 3-day Strike

December 22, 1972

TEL AVIV (Dec. 21)

Some 2000 first and second year students of the Haifa Technion began today a three-day strike which they said would be renewed as an extended walkout next Wednesday if their demands for a radical change in the institute’s scholastic credit system were not met. Technion administrators countered with a threat to cancel the semester if a prolonged strike takes place.

In negotiations before the strike began, Technion officials agreed to two student demands: that grades be based on teacher evaluations in addition to final examination results; that lectures be scheduled more closely together during the school day. They rejected a demand for another chance in examinations at the end of the term for students failing in a course. Prof. Jacob Baer, Technion’s vice-president for academic affairs, said this would amount to “a lottery with students who fail, trying again and again until they ultimately slip through.”